<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
	<meta charset="utf-8">
	<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

	<style type="text/css">
		@import url('../css/main.css');
	</style>

	<title>Libreboot documentation: installing GNU/Linux</title>
</head>

<body>
	<header>
		<h1>Boot a GNU/Linux installer on USB</h1>
		<aside>Or <a href="index.html">back to main index</a></aside>
	</header>

	<h2>Prepare the USB drive (in GNU/Linux)</h2>

		<p>
			Connect the USB drive. Check dmesg:<br/>
			<b>$ dmesg</b><br/>

			Check lsblk to confirm which drive it is:<br/>
			<b>$ lsblk</b>
		</p>

		<p>
			Check that it wasn't automatically mounted. If it was, unmount it. For example:<br/>
			<b>$ sudo umount /dev/sdb*</b><br/>
			<b># umount /dev/sdb*</b>
		</p>

		<p>
			dmesg told you what device it is. Overwrite the drive, writing your distro ISO to it with dd. For example:<br/>
			<b>$ sudo dd if=gnulinux.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=8M; sync</b><br/>
			<b># dd if=gnulinux.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=8M; sync</b>
		</p>

	<h2>Booting the USB drive (in GRUB)</h2>

		<p>
			Boot it in GRUB using the <i>Parse ISOLINUX config (USB)</i> option (it's in default libreboot grub.cfg, at least).

			A new menu should appear in GRUB, showing the boot options for that distro; this is a GRUB menu, converted from the usual
			ISOLINUX menu provided by that distro.
		</p>

		<p>
			If the ISOLINUX parser won't work, then press C to get to GRUB command line.<br/>
				grub&gt; <b>ls</b><br/>

			Get the device from above output, eg (usb0). Example:<br/>
				grub&gt; <b>cat (usb0)/isolinux/isolinux.cfg</b><br/>

			Either this will show the ISOLINUX menuentries for that ISO, or link to other .cfg files, for example /isolinux/foo.cfg.<br/>

			If it did that, then you do:<br/>
				grub&gt; <b>cat (usb0)/isolinux/foo.cfg</b><br/>

			And so on, until you find the correct menuentries for ISOLINUX.
		</p>

		<p>
			Now look at the ISOLINUX menuentry. It'll look like:<br/>
			<b>
				kernel /path/to/kernel<br/>
				append PARAMETERS initrd=/path/to/initrd MAYBE_MORE_PARAMETERS<br/>
			</b>

			GRUB works the same way, but in it's own way. Example GRUB commands:<br/>
				grub&gt; <b>linux (usb0)/path/to/kernel PARAMETERS MAYBE_MORE_PARAMETERS</b><br/>
				grub&gt; <b>initrd (usb0)/path/to/initrd</b><br/>
				grub&gt; <b>boot</b><br/>

			Of course this will vary from distro to distro. If you did all that correctly, it should now be booting the ISO
			the way you specified.
		</p>

	<h1>Troubleshooting</h1>

		<p>
			Most of these issues occur when using libreboot with coreboot's 'text mode' instead of the coreboot framebuffer.
			This mode is useful for booting payloads like memtest86+ which expect text-mode, but for GNU/Linux distributions
			it can be problematic when they are trying to switch to a framebuffer because it doesn't exist.
		</p>

		<p>
			In most cases, you should use the vesafb ROM's. Example filename: libreboot_ukdvorak_vesafb.rom.
		</p>

		<h2>parabola won't boot in text-mode</h2>

			<p>
				Use one of the ROM images with vesafb in the filename (uses coreboot framebuffer instead of text-mode).
			</p>

		<h2>debian-installer (trisquel net install) graphical corruption in text-mode</h2>
			<p>
				When using the ROM images that use coreboot's &quot;text mode&quot; instead of the coreboot framebuffer,
				booting the Trisquel net installer results in graphical corruption because it is trying to switch to a framebuffer which doesn't
				exist. Use that kernel parameter on the 'linux' line when booting it:<br/>
				<b>vga=normal fb=false</b>
			</p>

			<p>
				Tested in Trisquel 6 (and 7). This forces debian-installer to start in text-mode, instead of trying to switch to a framebuffer.
			</p>

			<p>
				If selecting text-mode from a GRUB menu created using the ISOLINUX parser, you can press E on the menu entry to add this.
				Or, if you are booting manually (from GRUB terminal) then just add the parameters.
			</p>

			<p>
				This workaround was found on the page: <a href="https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch05s04.html">https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch05s04.html</a>.
				It should also work for gNewSense, Debian and any other apt-get distro that provides debian-installer (text mode) net install method.
			</p>

<hr/>

	<p>
		Copyright &copy; 2014 Francis Rowe &lt;info@gluglug.org.uk&gt;<br/>
		This document is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License and all future versions.
		A copy of the license can be found at <a href="../license.txt">../license.txt</a>.
	</p>

	<p>
		This document is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
		but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
		MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See <a href="../license.txt">../license.txt</a> for more information.
	</p>

</body>
</html>
